Sequencing
The grid above, scaled up: patterns, tempo, swing and arrangement. The Step Sequencer and DrumPad are the two entry points, depending on whether you draw the pattern in or play it in.
Web DAW · Web Audio API
Web DAW
Web DAW
The studio opens in a tab
A web DAW is a digital audio workstation that runs inside your browser instead of on your hard drive: the sequencer, the instruments, the effects and the mixing all happen in the tab, on the Web Audio API. No installer, no plugin format, no licence server. GOONS is one of them - 20+ instruments deep, and the first brick is playable three scrolls down.
21 INSTRUMENTS
5000 SAMPLES
0 INSTALL
MIDI IN
WEB AUDIO
€9.90 /MONTH
Brick 1 of 5 · playable
The sequencer, right here on the page
Every DAW starts with a grid. Here is a working one: four synthesised drum voices, sixteen steps, a tempo control and a swing amount. It runs on the same Web Audio API as the full studio - which is the whole argument for a web DAW in one paragraph.
What a DAW is made of
Five bricks, all of them running in the tab
A desktop DAW bundles these into one binary. A web DAW splits them into apps that share one audio engine - so you open only the one you need, and they still talk to each other.
Instruments
Synths, pianos, a theremin, a vocoder. Quantum Synthesizer X alone is a 16-voice polyphonic synth with a modulation matrix and a six-effect rack - the kind of thing that used to arrive as a 900 MB installer.
Sampling
Chop, slice, map to pads, play with your fingers. DrumPad handles the MPC-style workflow; the 5000-sample library is shared by every app, so a kit loaded once is available everywhere.
Effects and mixing
Filters, delays, reverbs, compressors and the XY performance pad of Kaoss Matrix Pro. Audio is routed between apps in real time rather than bounced and re-imported.
Projects that follow you
Sessions live in your account, not in a folder on one machine. Open the same project from the studio desktop, a borrowed laptop or a hotel computer and it is where you left it.
One engine underneath
All of it sits on a single Web Audio graph. That is why the instruments can be separate apps without becoming separate worlds - and why there is no plugin format to be compatible with in the first place.
Honest comparison
Web DAW versus installed DAW
Neither one wins everywhere. Here is where each actually does.
| Web DAW (GOONS) | Installed DAW | |
|---|---|---|
| Time to first sound | Seconds - open a URL, click once to enable audio | Download, install, authorise, restart, scan plugins |
| Cost of entry | €9.90/month, everything included, 7-day free trial | €100–€700 up front, plus instruments and sample packs |
| Instruments included | 20+ apps: synths, drums, samplers, vocoder, DJ effects | A stock set, then you buy the rest |
| Machine you can work on | Any browser - your laptop, a studio desktop, a borrowed machine | The machines you installed and authorised |
| Where projects live | Your GOONS account, reachable from anywhere | A folder, plus whatever backup discipline you have |
| Updates | Already done, next time you reload | A download, a changelog and a plugin rescan |
| Working offline | No - the tab needs to load first | Yes - the desktop wins this one outright |
| Very large mixes | Comfortable up to a full arrangement; a 120-track orchestral session is not the target | Still the reference for heavy sessions and long timelines |
| Third-party VST / AU plugins | Not hosted - the instruments are the ones in the catalog | Hosts anything you have a licence for |
How a session goes
From blank tab to finished loop
Open the studio
Log in and pick an app from the catalog. The audio engine spins up on your first click - browsers keep tabs silent until you interact, which is why every GOONS app has an enable-audio button.
Lay the rhythm
Program a pattern in the Step Sequencer or DrumPad. Set tempo and swing first; they change what every later decision sounds like.
Bring in the melody
Open Quantum or the Analog Synth in the same session, play from your MIDI keyboard or your computer keys, and shape the patch while the loop runs underneath.
Mix, then keep it
Push the parts through the effects, balance them, and save the session to your account so the next machine you sit at picks it up unchanged.
Deep links
The instruments this page is describing
Every brick above is a real app. These are the five that make the core of a web DAW session.
What "web DAW" actually means in 2026
The term used to describe a toy: a four-track loop widget with a demo watermark. It stopped meaning that when the Web Audio API grew a real signal graph - sample-accurate scheduling, biquad filters, convolution reverb, dynamics processing, worklets running on their own thread. A modern browser is now a synthesis host, and a web DAW is simply a workstation that decided to live there instead of in /Applications.
What you give up, plainly
You give up third-party plugins and you give up working with the wifi off. If your workflow is built on a specific VST chain, an installed DAW remains the right tool and no amount of marketing changes that. What you get back is that the studio is wherever you are, that nothing needs maintaining, and that the entire instrument collection costs less per month than a single plugin sale.
Why the instruments are separate apps
One giant interface is how desktop software solved this, because launching a program is expensive. Opening a URL is not. So GOONS splits the studio into focused apps - a sequencer that only sequences, a synth that only synthesises - and connects them through a shared audio bus and a shared sample library. You get the surface area of a suite without the cockpit.
Where to go from here
If you want the comparison in more detail, the browser-based DAW page takes the latency and CPU questions seriously. If you are shopping for tools rather than concepts, read what a production stack actually needs. And if the budget is the question, free music software is the honest version of that conversation.
Questions
Frequently asked
What is a web DAW?
A web DAW is a digital audio workstation that runs in a browser tab. The sequencer, the instruments, the effects and the mixing are all executed by the browser through the Web Audio API, so there is nothing to install and nothing to authorise. GOONS is a web DAW built as 21 connected apps rather than one window.
Is a web DAW good enough for real production?
For beats, loops, sound design, sketching and finished arrangements at normal track counts, yes. For a 120-track session with a third-party plugin on every channel, an installed DAW is still the right tool. Most people are doing the first thing and paying for the second.
Does it work offline?
No. The page has to load, and your projects live in your account. This is the clearest trade you make for never installing or maintaining anything.
Can I use my MIDI keyboard?
Yes. The instruments listen to Web MIDI, so any class-compliant USB or Bluetooth controller plays them, velocity and wheels included. Chrome and Edge support it best; Safari support depends on the version.
What about latency?
The Web Audio API schedules with sample accuracy and typical round-trip latency on a modern machine sits in the range where finger drumming feels right. It is not an ASIO interface at 64 samples - if you are tracking a live band, use the desktop rig.
What does GOONS cost?
One subscription at €9.90/month covers all 20+ apps, the 5000-sample library and cloud projects. New accounts get a 7-day free trial with full access and no card required.
Web DAW silo
Keep reading
Four pages on the same idea: the whole studio is a URL. Start with the hub, then dig into the comparison, the software angle or the free tier.
Guide
Browser-based DAW
Browser versus installed: latency, CPU, plugins, files - where each one actually wins.
Read it → GuideProduction software
The stack a producer needs, and how much of it you can skip when it runs in a tab.
Read it → GuideFree music software
What free really costs in music software, and what a 7-day full-access trial answers.
Read it →
Ready when you are
Open the web DAW and make a loop
Everything on this page is one login away: 20+ instruments, the sample library and projects that follow you between machines. €9.90/month, 7-day free trial, no card.
Already subscribed? Launch the Step Sequencer →